Sunday, 22nd April 2007 at 1:24 pm

Cricket’s great left-handers

Brian Lara’s farewell on Saturday against England added another legendary left-hander to the list of cricket’s greats to have departed the game, with the last twenty-odd years having seen every country produce some magical left-handed talent. Gower for England, Langer for Australia, Ranatunga for Sri Lanka, Flower for Zimbabwe, Sohail for Pakistan, Kirsten for South Africa… It’s a long list, with Lara the most mesmerising of modern cricket’s left-handers.

Even Lara, however, couldn’t match the particular talent of one particular left-hander: young South African Damien Hourquebie, who played one particular innings Feverpitcher will never forget. On a quick, bouncy track against an Avendale side with a number of fiery fast bowlers, Hourquebie made a rapid hundred with ten - count ‘em - top-edged sixes over the ‘keeper.

It’s a shot generally played when a hook doesn’t come off as planned, and Lara probably played one or two during his career. But 10 in one innings? That shows a level of talent few batsmen have been blessed with in the history of the game, and Feverpitcher will always wonder just how far Hourquebie could have gone if injury hadn’t curtailed the flamboyant left-hander’s career.